My blog used to be called Nappy Valley. But now I've moved to the dizzy heights of Crystal Palace (via a spell as an expat on Long Island, New York). And my Littleboys are long out of nappies.

Tuesday, 10 January 2012

A taste of things to come?

It must be an American election year, because NPR, the radio station we listen to as we wake up each morning now seems to be firmly given over to politics. We are hearing about the ins and outs of the Republican candidates as they fight it out in the primaries, which might be interesting if any of them were at all dynamic or charismatic, but they seem distinctly lacklustre (and they're Republican too, which doesn't help them in my estimation).

This morning we heard about a tiny hamlet in New Hampshire where there were only 9 voters. Newt Gingrich and someone else got one vote each, Romney and Huntsman got 2 each. Wow, hold the front page! If this is a taste of things to come, I might have to start listening to Radio 4 on 'Listen Again' every day, not just at the weekend.

Meanwhile we are dealing with the US government in our own little way. We need to renew our visas this summer, which means a trip back to the UK as you can't do it from within the US. Trying to be organised, we booked the flights ages ago, and The Doctor has assembled all the many pieces of paperwork ready to make our appointment. The other day, he rang up the US embassy in London (at vast cost as they have a premium rate line), paid $16 to even give his name, then gave them all our passport numbers and visa numbers, names, ages, dates of birth, star signs.....only to be told that the only available appointments were in February. Seeing as we are there in April, this is not particularly helpful. They could not tell him when the April dates would come through, so we now have to have the embassy on speed-dial and just have to keep ringing and checking - and eventually paying another $16 to re-register. The last thing we want is to miss the date we want, as the visas take up to two weeks to come through, and of course we need our passports back to return on our booked flight back to America. Sigh.

All in all, January 2012 is shaping up to be a pretty dreary month. For the last two years here, January has been cold and snowy, which although difficult to deal with has been quite pretty, and exciting for the kids. But this year we've had no snow as yet, and the grey, intermittently chilly weather is reminding me distinctly of England. The Doctor and I are also on a health kick, so cutting back drastically on the booze and fatty foods - although I'm still enjoying running, which I guess is something.

The only comfort is a new season of Downton Abbey on PBS, plus a box set of The InBetweeners that my brother-in-law sent us for Christmas (labelled by him as 'The anti Downton Abbey). I'm also excited about seeing The Book of Mormon on Broadway in February thanks to a Christmas present from The Doctor (for UK readers who haven't heard, it's a smash hit musical written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park fame).

Plus there's the thought of seeing family and friends in April, and spending some time in the UK after a break of nearly two years. At the moment, sitting soberly in my study on Long Island, the idea of a night out with the girls in a Soho cocktail bar seems like a distant fantasy in a far off land. I can't wait until it becomes a reality.

11 comments:

Many years ago I had to get a US visa in a relative hurry and found there were agencies near the embassy that for a fee would take the passport in for me. They got to go to the front of the queue (see a long time ago - there was a queue to get in the embassy!) and then express mailed my passport to me in the northwest of England so I could get it in time for my flight back to the US. I was nervous waiting for it to arrive though - especially when the local postman decided not to deliver it to my parents' house because he knew no one would be home, and delivered it to my mum's work instead!

I hope you get the appointment sorted out for the date you need and have a great trip back home!

I'm a citizen and I still get the stomach heaves when the word "visa" comes up. I hope it doesn't get too stressful. I thought you just had to leave this country? Not necessarily go to the UK? Perhaps weekend in Canada or Mexico?

Argh, bureaucracy! Having just jumped through hoops for my Korean teaching visa, I have great sympathy for you - hope it's sorted out with minimum anguish and the trip home is wonderful! If it's any comfort, I completely sympathize with the grey and miserable winter - I'm dreading the return to Seoul, where 'grey' and 'freezing' are the operative words - apparently until April, I'm told....

We submitted all the info on their website, which is the most unbelievable pain. You have to keep saving the information, or it times you out, and then when you've saved it, it sends you back to the beginning of the form. Feels like you're in an endless loop. It took - literally - hours.

We also uploaded photos, which it accepted, but when we got to the embassy, they didn't accept them. The two systems don't connect with each other, so just because you've spent hours and hours fiddling around getting the photo accepted by the website, it DOESN'T mean it's accepted by the embassy. It probably said that in some small print somewhere.

It makes you feel very powerless, and yes, you're right, it's hugely expensive.

By the way, try and get an appointment as early in the morning as possible, if there's a choice - that way the queue isn't so long and with luck you get through the process quicker.

Yes, even NPR, usually the one island of sanity. Your take on the Dixville Notch returns cracked me up. Hearing those first returns every election year is a long-time New England ritual that the national media picked up on because they have to have something to blab about, but I do enjoy it - kind of like having NORAD track Santa's progress every Christmas eve - not essential, pretty silly, but reassuring in its familiarity.

I dread going to the Embassy as there's always so much paperwork and threats if you get it wrong and blah blah blah. I can make an appointment in an online system, perhaps that's available to you too? I doubt if it's just US citizens who are allowed to.

Anyway, I've started an Expat Roundup over at BritMums and you're one of the inagural bunch :)

Michelloui, Tanya - we have now got our appointment, but you do definitely have to telephone them to get it (if you're British at any rate). Now comes the submitting the information online part - which, as Iota says, takes hours.

About Me

I'm a business journalist, wife to The Doctor and mother to two boys. I left London's 'Nappy Valley' in 2009 for a four year sojourn in New York. Now I'm back in South London, settling into British life once again and trying not to miss the yellow schoolbus too much as I grapple with the school run.